News

By Bob Pitcher, State Laws Newsletter. The Connecticut Supreme Court has held that federal law did not preempt various aspects of the state’s regulation of nonconsensual towing. The plaintiff towing company had been called by the state police to remove a disabled trailer from the highway following a traffic accident. For its services, it had…

From FMCSA: The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) has issued a notice that announces the suspension of the Unified Registration System (URS). During this suspension, entities needing to file will follow the same procedures and forms used to submit information to FMCSA as they do today. The URS 1 final rule was issued to…

From the FMCSA. On Jan. 21, 2016, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) published a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to update its present Safety Fitness Determination (SFD) methodology and enhance the Agency’s ability to identify non-compliant motor carriers.   The NPRM public comment period ended June 23, 2016. In order to thoroughly evaluate and possibly…

The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) has begun notifying selected truck and bus companies that they will be required to submit their 2016 USDOT drug and alcohol testing program results within 60 days as directed by 49 CFR § 382.403. The Annual Drug and Alcohol Information Survey results are used…

This is a friendly reminder to MTAC members that MTAC’s consultant Mike Glinski is available to answer your questions about complying with state and federal laws and regulations that apply to the commercial trucking industry. Any MTAC members that have questions about complying should call the MTAC office at (860) 520-4455, and MTAC staff will…

Excerpt from Wall Street Journal article: The trucking and rail industries, often at odds in Washington, are teaming up to press the incoming Trump administration to limit the ability of transportation regulators to write new rules. Leaders of the industry trade groups say they are trying to unite transport representatives in Washington, including airline, automobile…

From the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration: The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) recently released guidance for industry and fleet managers on safety culture concepts, improving safety culture and the use of onboard safety monitoring (OSM) systems. This guidance document is available online. The implementation of OSM systems involves more than installing the technology…

Excerpt from Transport Topics article: Autonomous truck technology holds the potential to enhance safety, efficiency and productivity in the trucking industry, but its successful deployment hinges on regulations that help rather than hinder it, said Chris Spear, president of the American Trucking Associations. While the widespread adoption of highly automated trucks is still many years…

By Bob Pitcher, State Laws Newsletter The Unified Carrier Registration Agreement is established by law so that the program produces only a certain amount of revenue in motor carrier fees for the participating states. If the fees in effect produce more revenue than that limit, the law says the fees are to be reduced accordingly.…

Last week, MTAC President Joe Sculley participated in a Connecticut Academy of Science and Engineering (CASE) Study Committee meeting on a virtual electronic screening (e-screening) and weigh-in-motion pilot project. The Study Committee is undertaking a year-long study that will identify the technological resources, solutions, and costs for a pilot installation of license plate reader (LPR),…